I am one of the LFS owners that was vandalized and got the ball rolling on this matter. It is my belief that I have now had 3-4 incidents, based on physical evidence and some very strange issues in months past. I implore you all to be vigilant at any LFS. Some of the materials being used don't require much quantity at all. Some are immediately detectable like bleach and ammonia; some don't register at all. In my case, someone walked past my outdoor live rock culture vats and dropped what appears to be fertilizer into the vats on their right and also into my freshwater reservoir. Since fertilizer didn't have any immediately noticable effects besides algae growth, it was 2-3 weeks before we found it. In my case, I noticed P levels rising in every system. We had a brand new bucket of BRS GFO and had also been trying out a new feed, so I was thinking it might be defective product causing increased P. After hearing from a new shop in Brooksville who had been poisoned 3x in their first few months of business, I ran detailed chem on every body of water on the premises. It wasn't until I realized that the rock vats on the left still were still at 0 phosphate that I climbed up to inspect the reservoir. There was the remnants of pellets scattered in the big reservoir which have been collected and tested here. They contain phosphate and nitrate, so I suspect fertilizer. I estimate nearly 3 weeks since contamination, based on when P levels started to rise.
We had another incident last Wednesday in which someone likely got something in through an open window and put something fast acting, possibly bleach into a system adjacent to the window. Fortunately, basic triage (massive wc, fresh carbon and wet skimming) halted the damage. When I got back from our service route on Wednesday, all the anemones were shriveled and half of a monstrous stunner chalice had STN. Most of my SPS were killed. For most of you who haven't been here, our facility is located on a very private property, so open windows weren't much of a concern, especially with 5 cameras in plain view. We have the car but no plate on film and they found a way around the view of cameras. Unfortunately, we had a glitch with our security DVR and most likely the original incident form a few weeks ago has been recorded over. If it is still there, 3 cameras saw them and we are about to analyze the footage. We are fixing that immediately. We are also adding additional cameras and repositioning others. Sorry to be yet another person recording your activities, but it is an unfortunate necessity. A few bad apples...
Per communication with Ben at Ocean Prime Coral in Brooksville - and with permission to relate the info, they have been poisoned with bleach, fertilizer and something that ran their calcium through the roof. They have retreived green and white pellets (fertilizer) as well as something that crystalized in the bottom of their sump. It sounds like their systems are smaller ˜100 gal or so each so it wouldn't take much product to affect them. They observed someone shaking their keys over an open body of water repeatedly and have a very good description of their suspect, so LFS owners might want to call them directly to inquire. Please though, no matter how relevant you think it is, DO NOT post suspects, suspicions or descriptions here.. Please PM info to myself or Roger, since he in in contact with so many aquarists and stores in the area. I am on good terms with most of the other owners as well and intend to be very open about the issues here. I had some discussion with DC and other mods about what is and isn't allowed. Finger pointing and speculation will get this thread shut down and deleted and it is far too important to alert other LFS owners, employees and those of you who invite other aquarists into your homes to share and sell corals of this matter.
I have also heard stories from 2 other big stores in the area, but without specifics or evidence, I will leave it up to them to decide if they will share their experiences. I mention them simply to show how widespread this epidemic is.
As for my customers, if you bought water from me in the last 3 weeks, I am humbly apologetic for any issues that may have arisen. Please bring me a sample for testing and I will do whatever I can, within reason to remedy the situation and work with you to move beyond it. None of my fish were affected and the majority of corals are perfectly fine at this time, so no need to avoid our shop...
If the person responsible is reading this, please realize that you aren't helping any cause. You are hurting small business owners and their families. The fact that at least 2 of us are newcomers means that your actions are particularly crippling. What could possibly be in it for you?
To the rest of you, again, please be vigilant in your travels. This is a very small and tightknit community. We all have our favorite LFS, but we are all also in this together. Nobody gains from these shenanigans.
